How often do you feel like throwing in the towel
- Thread starter rogerwilco357
- Start date
I had a really nice tank - maybe not TOTM but I had colonies bigger than a football that I had grown from frags - 6 years worth. Last summer I had a really bad crash. SPS STN, fish dying, clams spewing forth nasty goo right before my eyes - really depressing. Pretty much lost all my acro colonies. I'm still at it - trying to build back my tank. Crack is probably easier to kick...
Watching TV and not thinking. Point I wanted to make is that I never figured out what caused the crash. Still makes me crazy just thinking about it.
rogerwilco357
Active member
Well as of lately the electric bill of 4-500 a month has me re-thinking the hobby as well as the lost of acro due to aptasia invested tank with Coraline everywhere has me thinking of which way to go...how are you guys doing and what has you on the boarder?
ormet
Just one more frag
Perfect thread for my state of mind. Today i feel like just quitting.
Almost 2 years as a SPS reefer and i have been just loving the challenge.
But not for the moment.
Battling AEFW, had to move my tank twice in a week due to new flooring after a water leak in the kitchen. This caused Alk swing as my dosing line for alk was not attached properly. Lost a few colonies ... my wonderful suharsonoi and my mr pacman Echiniata and one new Loripes colony.
Fish got transfered to quarantine to be sure to have rid DT of ich. Its to much work with two tanks and yesterday my decora goby was dead in quarantine and my YT + bangaii cardinal wont eat.
Also i bought a new skimmer for the reef and sold the old one. Should NOT have sold the old one as the new one has problems and i need to wait for spare parts so DT with all SPS is going skimmerless ... doesnt look to good atm. Cloudy and many SPS have no PE.
Add to this the constant battle against different macro algae and a nagging wife ... my god why didnt i just continue keeping cichlids.
Almost 2 years as a SPS reefer and i have been just loving the challenge.
But not for the moment.
Battling AEFW, had to move my tank twice in a week due to new flooring after a water leak in the kitchen. This caused Alk swing as my dosing line for alk was not attached properly. Lost a few colonies ... my wonderful suharsonoi and my mr pacman Echiniata and one new Loripes colony.
Fish got transfered to quarantine to be sure to have rid DT of ich. Its to much work with two tanks and yesterday my decora goby was dead in quarantine and my YT + bangaii cardinal wont eat.
Also i bought a new skimmer for the reef and sold the old one. Should NOT have sold the old one as the new one has problems and i need to wait for spare parts so DT with all SPS is going skimmerless ... doesnt look to good atm. Cloudy and many SPS have no PE.
Add to this the constant battle against different macro algae and a nagging wife ... my god why didnt i just continue keeping cichlids.
DNA
New member
Everyone will have problems at some time in this hobby, but only a few talk about them.
Don't get the impression the road to success is a wide and straight one.
You can only hope your tanks process will lead forward after your beat down various problems.
Expect things to go wrong and always look on the bright side of things. If you don't you won't last long.
Don't get the impression the road to success is a wide and straight one.
You can only hope your tanks process will lead forward after your beat down various problems.
Expect things to go wrong and always look on the bright side of things. If you don't you won't last long.
Keeping reef tanks since I was 18, im now 35....love it, looking at a tank and not a DVD of the barrier is just awesome, knowing what we have came from an ocean miles away, the fish we keep have been plucked from their homes and into ours as pets is purely amazing. Had a full tank crash earlier this year, lost every coral and most fish, it was the best my tank has ever been...would I quit because of it - NO WAY
I will quit when I lose the inspiration of keeping such amazing creatures in my home and not theirs.
I will quit when I lose the inspiration of keeping such amazing creatures in my home and not theirs.
Seakrait
New member
Digitate hydroids that stung the crap out of my first paly. Majano or some other anemone that was very hard to see during the day, that ate 3 fish before I could figure it out. I saw the third fish half hanging outside of the nem. I had a cool rock with 3 different types of xenia on it. I moved it next to a star polyp colony I had owned for 3 months. The xenia vanished 1 by 1 over the first 3 nights. The star polyps had a eunice worm living in the center of it. Bastard didn't eat the star polyps. I am still dealing with bryopsis I picked up 6 months ago. I don't have an abundance if time or money so these set backs were significant. When I step back and look at it these things that make us want to throw in the towel, I realize they make us better. They are part if the process of being good at this hobby. We learn more from the things we do wrong than the things we do right. Have I wanted to quit? Yes. Will I? No because it would bother me more to know I couldn't do this.
ReefRockerLive
GHL Mitras LX7 Club
I've been in this hobby for 11 years and I'm not quitting anytime soon. Having my reef is an excellent stress reliever when things are going right. 
Back when I began this hobby, I had a 55g handed down to me. Through the life of this tank, I've encountered the most frustrating moments of losses and failure. If it wasn't a flood, it was random coral loss.
I consider myself a stubborn person so with this trait, I upgraded to a 75g. This was my most successful tank until I moved, things were never the same. Within two weeks after the move, I lost 90% of my acros and 5 fish. I kept it going for 5 months before I said enough is enough, I sold what remained and stayed 'Dry' for two years. Besides, I was going to school, so I couldn't dedicate too much time to the tank.
During the dry time, I still remained on RC, reading and continuously seeing what's new. I thought I caught the bug once I began planning a new tank, but realized that I've had it all along.
Eventually my 67g rimless came into existence, two years later, I'm back in the game, still hooked.
It's crazy when one recalls all the money they've spent on this hobby, only to fail and try again. I try not to think about it and just enjoy my piece of the ocean.
Back when I began this hobby, I had a 55g handed down to me. Through the life of this tank, I've encountered the most frustrating moments of losses and failure. If it wasn't a flood, it was random coral loss.
I consider myself a stubborn person so with this trait, I upgraded to a 75g. This was my most successful tank until I moved, things were never the same. Within two weeks after the move, I lost 90% of my acros and 5 fish. I kept it going for 5 months before I said enough is enough, I sold what remained and stayed 'Dry' for two years. Besides, I was going to school, so I couldn't dedicate too much time to the tank.
During the dry time, I still remained on RC, reading and continuously seeing what's new. I thought I caught the bug once I began planning a new tank, but realized that I've had it all along.
Eventually my 67g rimless came into existence, two years later, I'm back in the game, still hooked.
It's crazy when one recalls all the money they've spent on this hobby, only to fail and try again. I try not to think about it and just enjoy my piece of the ocean.
franklypre
New member
I've had crashes due to ac going out in the middle of summer in Texas. I've had bugs and critters and blue clove polyps, currently have a plague of cluster dusters but it's been years since I was truly ready to quit. I lost several hundred bucks worth of frags due to UPS, I was the shipper, but within a day I remembered the simple fact that it's all part of it. Quitters never succeed, especially in this hobby
Psionicdragon
New member
everyday when i see a frag or colony die
Giving up is not option,with our advanced state of SPS addition we must go on!we have salt in our veins and Acroporsa on the brain,its futile to give in your are in to weak to put down your refractometers fight on commardes until the grave and they pry the fragging shears from my cold dead fingers.REEF ON REEF ON!! hahahahah
animalkingdom
New member
detachment works best for be...I love my reef but when things go awry and my prized colony starts to RTN, I just look at the whole situation with detachment. I do what I can to save things, but I don't get overly worked up when something goes wrong now because I have learned its all part of the experience.
AdamSabina
New member
I threw in the towel for 3 years. Had a tank crash on vacation. Broken heater, Ick, ballast on MH went out, and the stand was falling apart.
It was a rough time. What got me back actually was just have some good success in my nano. I rebuilt the 150 and I knew what I wanted this time around.
Good luck stay in there maybe just down size to a nano or move to LPS and soft corals. There are some great zoas and neon leather that won't make you rip you hair out.
It was a rough time. What got me back actually was just have some good success in my nano. I rebuilt the 150 and I knew what I wanted this time around.
Good luck stay in there maybe just down size to a nano or move to LPS and soft corals. There are some great zoas and neon leather that won't make you rip you hair out.
Never wanted to quit, but I did learn a few lessons... a few early on mistakes taught me to only use reliable equipment (cannot afford to be cheap), go simple and don't trust technology any more than you have to... and to use the best lighting possible for what you are going to keep with no exceptions.
Many will disagree on the automation, but I have never had a flood, top off failure, or the like. I do carry a few buckets of water a week, but well worth it IMO.
I have now have patience (which is ultimately free, but can cost so much), let new tanks cycle all the way (up to a year) having the bacteria in the sand manage phosphates and nitrates, do my water changes, and just mostly sit back, relax and let my SPS grow.
Many will disagree on the automation, but I have never had a flood, top off failure, or the like. I do carry a few buckets of water a week, but well worth it IMO.
I have now have patience (which is ultimately free, but can cost so much), let new tanks cycle all the way (up to a year) having the bacteria in the sand manage phosphates and nitrates, do my water changes, and just mostly sit back, relax and let my SPS grow.
